Natural Science Forum / Physics / General Physics / December 2007

Toshiba's Home Nuclear Reactor

By Rob Beschizza
December 18, 2007

If we lived in a world where everyone was (a) smart and (b)
trustworthy, Toshiba's micro-sized nuclear reactor, small
enough to fit in the basement or a large shed, would be a
slam-dunk solution to the energy/climate crisis.

Twenty foot long by six foot wide, the reactors produce
200kW of energy and run themselves: the entire thing is
manufactured with the fuel within, and when it runs out,
they can just send a truck to pick it up.

  "Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro
  reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction.
  The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of
  liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at
  absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are
  connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor
  core. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can
  last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only
  5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid
  energy."

Waste, you say? Throw it in a mile-deep pit in New Mexico,
or something.

Unfortunately, with the way nukes have been run, it's
unlikely they'll be replacing every neighborhood's
electricity substation with one of these any time soon.
It's claimed there are buyers in Japan and Europe.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, I recall, makes something
similar, but bigger.

Toshiba Builds 100x Smaller Micro Nuclear Reactor
[Nextenergynews via Gizmodo]

More at:
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/12/toshibas-home-n.html

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